Crunch time for Russia's athletes as WADA decides on doping ban

Russia could be banned from competing in both the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics (Credit: AP)

Russian athletes could be on the verge of another competition ban after data provided to the World anti-doping agency (WADA) was found to be fixed.

After being disqualified from taking part in any sporting competition in 2014 following a large-scale doping scandal, Russia's athletes could now be banned for 4 years because of the fabricated evidence.

The World Anti-Doping Agency is voting on a proposal to ban Russia from taking part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the 2022 Beijing winter Olympics on Monday in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The decision will be made by a 12-member executive committee headed by Craig Reedie, a former UK badminton player and other 11 members with athletic and political backgrounds from other countries. Neither the US nor Russia have members on the committee.

Russian athletes that prove to be clean would be allowed to compete but under a neutral flag (Credit: Reuters)

If WADA's executive committee accepts recommendations from its Compliance Review committee, Russia would be unlikely to make its return before 2024. Russian athletes who prove they are clean would be allowed to compete but under a neutral flag, like in the 2018 winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

If Russia disagrees with the outcome, it has 21 days to protest to the Court of Arbitration Sport, which will have the final say.

What did Russia do?

Russia was first caught in a big large-scale doping scandal after the 2014 Sochi winter Olympics, from which the Russian government hoped to reap prestige.

It won medals and proved itself across all sports until a whistle blower (an athlete originally part of the program) revealed the scandal. Russia was stripped of the titles and banned from participating in any form of international sporting competition as a nation.

In September 2018 Russia was reinstated on condition of handing over all of its testing data. A report by WADA says Russia missed the original deadline and the data contained significant discrepancies.

Russian Sport Minister Pavel Kolobkov has denied the doping data sent to WADA was falsified.

"We are doing all we can to fulfil the obligations that we committed to last September and we have fulfilled them," he said.